Europa – 23. 04. 2018
52 million wild birds killed by European hunters per year, new study reveals
Bonn, Germany. More than 52 million wild birds are being killed lawfully by hunters in Europe each year, according to a report published this week in the journal “British Birds”. The study provides data on 82 species of wild bird which may be legally hunted including 1,607,964 shot Quails, 522,253 Teal, 107,802 Lapwings, 205,577 Snipe, 973,414 Woodcocks, 1,455,208 Turtle Doves, 898,958 Skylarks and other migratory species of conservation concern. The research paper which has been compiled by staff from the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) is a follow up to a report which was first conducted back in 2005; and was initially only available in German language. Now for the first-time publicly available and official hunting statistics from 24 EU member states plus Switzerland and Norway have been collated and are available for comparison in English.
The authors point out that despite a long-term decrease in the gross number of killings compared with older data, the bag figures for certain migratory species, such as Common Pochard, Northern Lapwing, Turtle Dove and Skylark, remain high in proportion to their declining populations in Britain and Europe. Against a backdrop of declining populations of many affected species, hunting pressures is undermining conservation efforts undertaken for these species in other countries.
“The hunting of birds with rapidly declining populations is not sustainable and therefore is a clear breach of the European Birds Directive”, CABS Conservation Officer Geraldine Attard, who is one of the authors of the study, concluded.
The full paper is available now in the latest edition of British Birds 112 March 2019.
Contact for more information: CABS Campaigns & Operations Officer Lloyd Scott, +44-7771-780-165 or Email Lloyd.scott@komitee.de